Pre-Readings

Everyone says to start them early.  I’m hoping three months is early enough.  I’ll probably have to cram way more material into two month segments once I’m at INSEAD, so three months had better be enough!  So far the reading (I’m about 60 pages in) is basically what I expected…  Discussion of equity and debt markets, capital structure, corporate governance.  You know, all that exciting stuff.

Honestly, though, I had only a vague grasp as to what any of it was before reading these books, so I’m really glad I’m doing it.  I think that taking the Business Foundations course will prove to have been a wise decision as well.

God knows I love nothing more than including media in my blog posts, so here come the pictures.  The (officially optional) books they ask us to read are these:

Corporate Finance

Corporate Finance by Hillier, Ross, Westerfield, Jaffe and Jordan.  This is one of the ones I’ve already started reading.  It’s surprisingly readable and, while technically the European Edition, pretty focused on most of the world’s major markets.  Each chapter has tables describing how what you’re reading about is called or treated in a whole slew of different countries.  That said, if there’s one country in particular that interests you, you may have to supplement it from time to time, but as a general, international textbook, so far it’s pretty good. (Oh, and apparently we’re only supposed to read the first two chapters of this one.  I wonder why…)  Anyway, the cover makes me feel so serene about corporate finance that I dove into this one head first.

Finance for Executives: Managing for Value Creation

Finance for Executives: Managing for Value Creation by Hawawini and Viallet.  This is the other one I’ve started reading.  So far so good.  I think FfE will ultimately prove to be more hard accounting/numbers-based, but so far it’s all pretty manageable.  Gabriel Hawawini is a former Dean of INSEAD, so I guess it makes sense that they chose this textbook.  Regardless of the fact that they decided to keep the textbook selection “in-house”, however, I think they chose a totally competent book to teach us what we need to know before we get there.  Textbook covers are great – this one  makes me excited to leaf, importantly, through pages and pages of financial statements with blurry dollar signs all over them.  Isn’t that what all executives do?

Essentials of Accounting

Essentials of Accounting by Anthony and Breitner.  It’s definitely up in the air between EoA and Corporate Finance for the Most-Beautiful-and-Yet-Unrelated-to-the-Subject-Material Cover Award.  Those spruce trees, I guess, are somehow supposed to give you happy thoughts about income statements and balance sheets or something.  Maybe they will in the end; I haven’t started reading this yet.  By the time I’m done, it will all make sense.  Anyway, this book is sort of weird, which is why I haven’t started it yet.  It’s basically one big workbook, which I think is a learn-by-doing thing, but I haven’t had the energy to wrap my head around it yet.  Oh, and I accidentally bought two of these, so if you want one, I’m happy to sell it for totally reasonable price (which I will then be able to, you know, credit to my bank account, as I will learn when I read this book).

Principles of Microeconomics

Principles of Microeconomics by Mankiw.  Looks interesting, but I don’t actually intend to read this because micro was always one of my strengths as an econ major during my undergrad, so I’m going to focus on the material I don’t know.  I hope any of you who are reading it enjoy it!  And just to be consistent with my other book summaries, I’m delighted to report that this book seems to have an interesting and yet appropriate cover – look at all those small businesses in that market (market… economics… get it??) who will have to make economic decisions on an individual scale! Microeconomics at work!  Good work to Mankiw’s cover artist, whoever you are.  (If the picture there is too small, you can embiggen it here.)

That’s all for now.  Over and out.  Talk to you soon.